


The Ones We Love

by aslytherspuff



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Romance, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-08-09 23:44:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20125816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aslytherspuff/pseuds/aslytherspuff
Summary: Marauders soulmark AU oneshot.Everyone was born with a soulmark.  Remus, for example, had a red paw print on his right wrist. He tried very hard never to look at his left wrist.Timeline, characters, and pairings mostly canon-compliant (Wolfstar are canon, right?).





	The Ones We Love

Everyone was born with a soulmark. A symbol and a colour that represented your other half's soul.

Remus, for example, had a red paw print on his right wrist. Remus also had a rabbit on his left wrist: an outline, devoid of colour.

As a child, Remus would stare at the red paw print; surely, his soulmate was a werewolf; who else would love him? He tried very hard never to look at his left wrist.

Remus was eleven when he learned to hide his wrists along with all his scars. His friends never hid their marks. James had a beautiful, white doe on his left shoulder blade that he showed off to the entire Gryffindor common room as often as possible. Peter had a tiny, green snake on his right index finger; it was a ridiculously Slytherin mark for a Gryffindor, but he was proud of it all the same. Sirius' mark was a golden hawk on his left butt cheek. Remus hadn't seen that one, but Peter swore he had.

Remus was sixteen when he learned that Peter was a filthy liar. There was no golden hawk anywhere but Sirius' imagination. Instead, there was a delicate blue mark over his right hip – the tiny sliver of a waning moon surrounded by stars. The night Remus saw that, he uncovered his right wrist.

The next morning, James took one look at them and burst out laughing. If only Sirius hadn't been so desperate to one-up his doe, he'd said, he'd have been getting laid for years. Remus smacked him, but Sirius smiled sadly and agreed that he'd been stupid to waste so much time.

Remus kept his left wrist concealed under a glamour, and if it ever slipped, Sirius never mentioned it.

Remus was twenty-one when he went back to concealing both wrists. He checked the left one from time to time, hoping somehow that it would change. It never did and, twelve years later, Remus was glad for it.

They were thirty-three, and Sirius was covered in tattoos; his soulmark the only piece of colour on his pale skin. On the nights where neither of them could sleep, Remus often ran his thumb over it, committing it to memory.

Remus was thirty-five when the Dark Lord rose for a second time. He and Sirius had survived by luck the first time; they both knew they were unlikely to survive a second time.

“When I die,” Sirius said, matter of factly, as they lay beside one another in their bed at Grimmauld Place, “look after Harry for me.” Remus' heart ached and twisted in his chest, but Sirius brushed off his protests. A warm, calloused finger swept over his left wrist. “Whoever they are, they'll love you when I'm gone.” That night, they both cried for the first time in years.

Sirius had been right a decade ago when he'd said they'd wasted time, and Remus had never really known it until now.

Remus was thirty-six when his soulmate fell through the veil, his eyes meeting Remus' one last time before he was gone forever. Twenty-five years they'd known each other, but only eight of those had been spent together.

Remus' left wrist began to burn that night, but it took him nine weeks to notice. It wasn't until someone grabbed him by the arm that the pain burst through into his consciousness. The black outline was now filled with splashes of pink and yellow. His eyes looked up to meet chocolate brown. Bright pink hair framed high cheekbones and a gentle smile. A blue waning moon was nestled against her collarbone.

Remus was thirty-eight when he met the third love of his life. The moment the tiny bundle was placed in his arms, he knew he would never love anyone quite as much as he loved his son. Just like his dad, little Teddy had two soulmarks, but his were as vibrant as his hair from the moment he was born.

When Remus arrived at Hogwarts on the first of May, 1998, his left hand firmly in his wife's, he knew they would not survive to see the dawn, and he felt a sense of peace. As long as they won, his son would be surrounded by family. He would know the love of two soulmates, without the loss and pain Remus had suffered, and live a long and happy life.

Remus was 38 when he passed over the bridge between life and death, and when he was greeted by both of his soulmates, he knew he was finally home.

**Author's Note:**

> My wife read this. She said "I'm not crying. I'm allergic to emotions."


End file.
